Welcome!

Hi everyone, welcome to the little night owl (www.thelittlenightowl.com). You’ve found your way to one of the highest quality software and computer review blogs on the internet!

My name is Sam Wiebe, and I’ll be your host during your stay on this site. Before I begin, let me just first express my gratitude and excitement that you’ve decided to visit this site. I really believe it’s going to help you out immensely in deciding which software or computer best suits your needs.

I felt it was necessary to include a little bit about how this blog got started and include a very brief history of how I got involved in computers in the first place.

My Introduction to Computers

My first ever experience with the modern computer occurred way back in the very early 90s (92 or 93) when my dad surprised our family with a brand new Hewlett Packard 730. It was our first family computer, and my brother and I were determined to let the rest of the family on it as little as possible.

The Packard 730 was considered an advanced machine for its time. It had a PA-7000 microprocessor, 64 MB of memory, and a Turbo GRX 3D graphics engine. Dad was convinced we didn’t need this “beast” of a machine, but my older brother pleaded the case for why Doom was a necessity in our home. Thankfully, dad wasn’t quite sure what Doom was.

Once we got everything set up at the house, my brother and I pulled up a couple of chairs from the kitchen table and didn’t leave that computers’ sight until the wee hours of the next morning.To this day, it is still one of the most memorable experiences of my life. It was like Christmas morning, except that instead of waking up to find all of the presents under the tree, I found old Saint Nicholas, himself.

Back then I didn’t realize it, but that Hewlett Packard 730 had instilled in me a thirst for computers and computer software that to this day still hasn’t been fully quenched.

Finding Out What Did and Didn’t Work

Once I began working at the tender age of sixteen, I started building my own computers from scratch, which was no easy task back in those days. You actually had to know what you were ordering, and make sure that it was compatible with the other components that would form your system

On top of that, you couldn’t really order online. Instead, you had to go to your local computer shop and either buy the parts there or convince the owner to order them for you.

I had a closet in my home that was dedicated solely to computer parts: motherboards, ram sticks, hard drives, and cables upon cables upon more cables. I believe my mom still has nightmares about that closet to this very day. 🙂

But with each component in that closet, I could tell you who made it, how well it performed, and how much it cost.

See, I was starting to learn what made certain components good, what made others better, and what made even fewer components the “best of the best”.

I was acquiring knowledge of how motherboards worked, what subtle differences made certain processors more efficient than their counterparts, and so on. I was getting pretty good at this stuff, and I loved it.

Sharing My Passion for Computers With Others

Fast-forward through the years of college, internships, and careers, and I’m still building computers and testing new software. And I still am just as passionate about it as I was back then (if not more).

Up until recently, I was content with working on my own computer projects, but then I got to thinking one day, “How could I share my knowledge with others? How can I take something I’m passionate about and positively effect people’s lives?”

I know! I can start a blog!

And here I am today. And here you are reading this page right now.

As cheesy as it may sound, this blog is dedicated to those who share my passion for all things computer and software related. It’s my way of giving back to a community that has given me so much over the years.

It’s my deepest wish that you find the reviews I’ve included in this blog to be of the utmost value and that they truly help someone make the most informed decision they possibly can.